Women&#039;s basketball lands Montana prep star

The newest member of Cara Cocchiarella's 2010 recruiting class is Sammi Bignell, a 5-foot-10 all-state guard from Helena Capital High School. By Wally Feldt
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="178" caption="Sammi Bignell"][/caption]
Sammi Bignell, a 5-foot-10 guard from Avon, Mont., signed a Frontier Conference/NAIA letter of intent to continue her basketball and academic career at the University of Montana Western, head women’s basketball coach Cara Cocchiarella announced today.
Bignell will graduate this spring from Helena Capital High School. She earned all-conference and all-state honors, was selected her team’s most valuable player, and will play in this summer’s Montana-Wyoming all-star game. In her senior season, she averaged 12.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.3 steals per game. For her career, she averaged 9.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
"We are very excited about signing Sammi,” Cocchiarella said. “She was one of the elite high school players in the state and has a lot of potential at the next level. Sammi fits in very well with our current roster and we expect her to have an immediate impact on our program.”
Bignell also competed in volleyball and track for Helena Capital. She excels in the classroom as well, maintaining a 3.4 GPA. She also received academic all-state honors in basketball and volleyball.
Bignell is the daughter of Jim and Carrie Bignell and will major in elementary education.